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Black Bean Soup

A thick, textured black bean soup that’s slowly simmered to be PACKED full of flavour!

Just popping in for a quick hello and a delicious soup today! I’ve been a bit soup mad lately, I think it’s the time of year. We’re still “officially” on holiday until Monday, so I’m looking forward to making my 2017 plan a reality very soon!

We had our first snow this week, which while pretty, has had us stuck inside a lot of the time. It’s been nice to just be at home and not worry about doing much for a couple of weeks though, I think we really needed this “off” time. As I write this, we’re making a few little updates to the site to hopefully make it nicer for you all!

I’ve always been obsessed with black beans, and a hearty black bean soup is absolutely PERFECT at this time of year! This is a slow and steady recipe, you can’t rush it, and you won’t regret using dried black beans, although if you really want to save time and use canned you can. The slow simmer helps to deepen the flavour of the beans, the pepper, onion garlic and spices, resulting in the most creamy, earthy black bean soup.

Top it off with all your favourite toppings (suggestions below… but feel free to customise as MUCH as you like) and enjoy!

A thick, textured black bean soup that's slowly simmered to be PACKED full of flavour!

Prep Time

20minutes

Cook Time

2.5hours

Passive Time

8hours

Servings

people

Ingredients

1.5 cups (340g)Dried Black Beans(or 2 cans)*

1White Onion

4Cloves Garlic

1Jalapeno

1Green Bell Pepper

1tspGround Cumin

1/2tspChilli Powder

114oz (400g) canDiced Tomatoes

2 cups (560ml)Vegetable Stock

1/2tspSalt

1pinchBlack Pepper

Juice of 1/2 a Lime

Optional Toppings

Diced Tomatoes

Sliced Avocado

Fresh Coriander

Toasted Tortilla Strips

Lime Wedges

Chilli Flakes

Prep Time

20minutes

Cook Time

2.5hours

Passive Time

8hours

Servings

people

Ingredients

1.5 cups (340g)Dried Black Beans(or 2 cans)*

1White Onion

4Cloves Garlic

1Jalapeno

1Green Bell Pepper

1tspGround Cumin

1/2tspChilli Powder

114oz (400g) canDiced Tomatoes

2 cups (560ml)Vegetable Stock

1/2tspSalt

1pinchBlack Pepper

Juice of 1/2 a Lime

Optional Toppings

Diced Tomatoes

Sliced Avocado

Fresh Coriander

Toasted Tortilla Strips

Lime Wedges

Chilli Flakes

Instructions

If using dried black beans, soak overnight, or for at least 8 hours in cold water. Drain and rinse the beans and set aside.

Heat a large stock pot with 1 tbsp of olive oil over a medium heat. Dice the onion, green pepper and jalapeño, and mince the garlic.

Add the onion to the stockpot first and cook for 2-3 minutes until it begins to soften. Next add the green pepper and cook for another 5 minutes. Finally add the garlic and jalapeño and cook for another 2 minutes. At this point everything should be nice and soft.

Add in the cumin and chilli powder, stir everything to combine and cook for a few minutes until the spices are fragrant.

Add in the canned tomatoes, vegetable stock, beans, salt and pepper. Cover and simmer on a low heat for 1-2 hours, stirring occasionally. When ready, the beans should be nice and soft, you can test this by removing one bean from the pan and squashing it between your fingers. It should be soft. If you still feel the bean is a bit hard, keep simmering the soup.**

Once the beans are cooked through, blend about 2/3 of the soup until smooth, then add back into the rest of the soup and stir, this will leave a bit of texture in the soup.

Add your preferred toppings and enjoy!

Recipe Notes

* If you're using canned black beans, reduce the simmering time to 30 minutes.

** Many things can affect the cooking time of beans, from the age of the beans to the size of them, so you really just need to keep simmering the soup and testing the beans until they are soft.

STORING - Soup can be kept in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 5 days, or frozen in portions for up to 3 months. Reheat thoroughly before serving.

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About Lauren Caris

Lauren is the author and chef of the vegan food blog, Lauren Caris Cooks. She is passionate about showing people just how awesome vegan food can be with simple, delicious recipes and vegan lifestyle tips.